Knock Sensor question

[GooeyGus]

Ok, so I know that if a knock sensor feels "gooey" in the back, it's time to change it.

I am having a problem with my car pulling time like crazy. At first I thought it was the lifter tick, but mine really isn't super bad compred to what I've heard from others, and mine is very intermittent.

So, my quesiton is, should the back of the knock sensor feel smooth? Mine feels like the plastic back there is like broken/missing. When I run my fingers over it, the sensor does not feel level, it's like the center is crushed in or missing the plastic off the top layer.

I'm guessing this means I need a new knock sensor? I've also been getting an intermittent CEL, but it goes away so fast that I cant check to see what it was. If I had to guess, I would say it's the knock sensor.

Thanks!

 

[juvi1624]

Make sure it's torqued correctly. Knock sensors need to be preloaded in orderto work correctly.

 

[GooeyGus]

Make sure it's torqued correctly. Knock sensors need to be preloaded in orderto work correctly.

I'm guessing that the torque is fine, it's been in the car since I've owned it and this problem started recently.

My main question was about the feel of the back of the sensor.

 

[pneumo]

The sensor should feel flat on the back. It's filled with a silicone rubber that degrades over time and oozes out. If it feels like a hole it's bad. If you feel bare metal inside, then it's really bad.

 

[GooeyGus]

The sensor should feel flat on the back. It's filled with a silicone rubber that degrades over time and oozes out. If it feels like a hole it's bad. If you feel bare metal inside, then it's really bad.

I think I felt silicone around the edges and bare metal in the center. I think I've found the source of my timing problem

Hopefully the car really comes back to life after I swap this one out. Any recommendations on where to get the sensor from? Is there any problem with aftermarket units versus OEM units? Thanks!

 

[pneumo]

I'm not sure if there is an aftermarket version.
You can get an OEM sensor from the dealer or some vendors sell OEM parts.

 

[GooeyGus]

So there's nothing wrong with a knock sensor from autozone or schucks/o'reily?

 

[river]

My knock sensor oozed it's gooey goodness out of the back of itself about 3k miles ago and it's still functioning properly. I'm waiting for it to start logging knock in an odd fashion and then I'm changing it.

 

[pneumo]

I've always wondered if you could simply refill the knock sensor with black RTV? If the metal parts inside are still good, then a fresh coating to seal it up should make it as good as new, right? Maybe one of you guys could try it and see if the knock sensor still works the same.

 

[TurboDSM90]

I've always wondered if you could simply refill the knock sensor with black RTV? If the metal parts inside are still good, then a fresh coating to seal it up should make it as good as new, right? Maybe one of you guys could try it and see if the knock sensor still works the same.

Great minds think alike I see. Dave I did that years ago, filled the back of the knock sensor with grey rtv. Never had an issue. I finally got rid of it last year in place of a low mile 1G sensor. The "new" knock sensor ended up on the track somewhere when I blew my block.

Now I am going to see if the link will let me run the 2G knock sensor on my 1G ecu. Worst case scenario it throws a code.